ST. PAUL – While last year's share of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) regular season championship was sweet for the University of Northwestern, Saturday's 6-3 victory over the College of St. Scholastica was even sweeter as it handed the Eagles the league title outright for the first time in program history. UNW has a chance to sweep its UMAC schedule on Tuesday at Martin Luther College.
Match ResultsNorthwestern led 2-1 after doubles play, as the Eagles picked up wins at Nos. 1 and 3 doubles. With the exception of Nos. 1 and 2 singles, none of Saturday's matches were quick.
Megan Johnson (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) and
Karen Moe (Fargo, N.D./Fargo South ) were 8-5 winners at No. 1 doubles, while
Tina Matetich (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) and
Birdie Bardwell (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville) won their No. 3 doubles bout in 8-3 fashion. UNW's
Rachel Bostrom (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake) and
Brooke Lapinski (Chanhassen, Minn./Chanhassen) suffered an 8-3 loss to Alexis Gunderson and Miki Samz at No. 2 doubles.
Johnson won her singles match handily for Northwestern's third point before Lapinski edged the Eagles closer to the needed fifth point. After suffering a 6-3 loss in her first singles set, the freshman came back to win her second set 6-3 before taking a 10-5 win in the third set tiebreaker at No. 5 singles shortly before Moe defeated Madeleine Scanlan 6-2, 6-0 to seal the deal.
Moe's win came at the right time as St. Scholastica picked up wins at Nos. 3 and 4 singles. But Matetich was also an overtime winner for UNW, tacking on another point with a 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (10-7) victory.
In addition to the team win, Moe's singles victory was also special as the sophomore broke her own UNW record for singles victories in a season, a mark that now stands at 23. Between next Tuesday's regular season finale at Martin Luther College (3 p.m.), at least one UMAC Tournament match and three guaranteed pool play matches at the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) national tournament during the first week of May, UNW has at least five more matches in 2015 where Moe could earn wins.
